Sarver, PA (July 10, 2012) If Danny Holtgraver had a breakout season locally in 2010, then 2012 is his breakout season on a regional and quite possibly a national level! After winning the Lernerville Speedway Track Championship, (the youngest ever to do so in the storied Ti22 Sprint division), and several features between Lernerville, Sharon, Mercer and PPMS in 2010, Holtgraver hit the road in 2011 with the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars on their newly created Ohio Region sub-series. He also ran crown jewel events like the Knoxville Nationals, National Open at Williams Grove and the World Finals in Charlotte. Running his family-owned & operated #D4, Danny started to open eyes and his name was being discussed for “hired gun” rides at the end of the season during the World Finals.
He started the 2012 season scoring a pair of podium finishes at Bubba Raceway Park running with the All Stars in Ocala, FL. Since then, he’s been running an aggressive schedule, heading both east and west, running with the All Stars in Ohio and getting experience at the Central PA tracks against the formidable PA Posse. His time running at Williams Grove, Lincoln and Port Royal has caught the attention of Tom & Fran Chiapelli, owners of the #98 Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks sponsored sprint car, most recently driven by “The Dude” Danny Lasoski.
Holtgraver, whom also raced the Bryan Grove #45 at Attica Raceway Park earlier this season, made his debut in the Chiappelli #98 last Saturday at the PA Speedweeks show at Port Royal, scoring an impressive top ten finish against the aforementioned PA Posse. He’ll spend most of the next two weeks running throughout Central PA in the Chiappelli #98, but
However, he will also be returning to familiar stomping grounds in his family-owned #D4 for a few races, including the Lou Blaney Memorial Classic at Sharon Speedway on July 10 and next Tuesday July 17’s Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup XXI Twin 30s at Lernerville Speedway featuring the “Greatest Show on the Dirt!” the World of Outlaws!
On his home turf, Danny will pilot his locally sponsored #D4 and try to join Ed Lynch Jr., Tim Shaffer and Dale Blaney as World of Outlaws feature winners at the Silver Cup. Shaffer and Blaney split the Twin 30 A-Mains last year, with Shaffer claiming his second Silver Cup on his hometrack. Holtgraver will try to do the same, “That would be a dream come true! To win an Outlaw show, especially the Don Martin Memorial, at my home track and in front of all the fans that have watched me grow up would be absolutely unbelievable!”
Whether it’s with the All Stars, PA Posse or the World of Outlaws that will be gunning for the Silver Cup next Tuesday, Danny credits a lot of his success with his aggressive travelling schedule against the best sprint car drivers in the world, “It's helped a ton. Just to be able to run a new track every night for 10 nights you’re bound to learn something new. I learn something new every night and even though we struggled at times, we still came out feeling pretty confident. You have to run a good lap in time trials in any format. If you run a fast lap in time trials, it sets you up for a much easier path to the A-Main!”
The unique, Twin 30-lap A-Main format gives drivers two chances at winning $10,000 on the same night. After the first 30-lapper is checkered, the field will be reset with all lead lap cars inverted on the starting grid for the second 30-lapper. Two summers ago, Holtgraver missed starting on the pole for the second A-Main by about 3 seconds, getting passed in turns three & four as he was coming to the white flag. Holtgraver lamented, “Yeah, that was tough, it’s the dream of any sprint car driver to be on the front row for the four abreast salute to the fans. So to be that close and miss it was disappointing, but like everything else, you just have to try to learn something from it and get better. The format is great, but you’re pretty spent by the end of 60 laps!”
Danny Holtgraver’s sponsors include Kargo Sales and Storage, Alternative Power Sources, West View Motors, Spinneweber Auto Sales, Bagley Auto Service, DKW Trucking, FullyInjected.com, Zero Wraps, Bastin Truck Parts, Kistler Engines and Speedshop, VRP Shocks, J&J Chassis, Butlerbuilt Seats, Simpson, Frankland Rearends, Dan Taylor Racing, Classic Ink and his crew primarily consists of his father Dan Holtgraver, Chris Bowe, Sandy Sanderson and Brian Kemenah.
Brian Ellenberger is already locked into the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup XXI Twin 30s by virtue of winning the Mid-Season Championship for the second year in a row. The other track provisional will go to the Budweiser Points leader in the Ti22 Sprints. Heading into this Friday’s Fab Four Racing program, Kevin Schaeffer leads the way with a 12 point lead after Rod George, winner of the most recent Ti22 Sprint feature last Friday, July 6. Defending Track Champion Carl Bowser has an outside shot at the track provisional, but will probably need to race his way into the A-Main!
The Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup remains the only event to see two World of Outlaws A-Mains in the same night on the same card. Tickets for the Silver Cup are available 24/7 at www.Lernerville.com or during normal business hours by visiting or calling the speedway office at (724) 353-1511. All advance ticket sales include a FREE pit pass upgrade and are priced at $39!
The fine folks from SPEED will be on hand again to record the thrilling Silver Cup racing action for a later broadcast, details will be released in the near future about the date and time of the broadcast.
- Admin Account on Jul 11, 2012
- Article Date: 7/10/2012 by Eric Westendorf